All Blog Posts Tagged 'science' - We Make Zines2015-03-31T22:11:01Zhttp://wemakezines.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?tag=science&xn_auth=noNeil deGrasse Tyson Suggests 8 (Free) Books Every Person Should Readtag:wemakezines.ning.com,2014-01-20:2288844:BlogPost:3810802014-01-20T16:33:30.000ZMike Nobodyhttp://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/MikeNobody
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;" class="font-size-6"><a href="http://iacknowledge.net/neil-degrasse-tyson-suggests-8-free-books-every-person-should-read/" target="_blank">8 Free Books Every Person Should Read</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;" class="font-size-6"><a href="http://iacknowledge.net/neil-degrasse-tyson-suggests-8-free-books-every-person-should-read/" target="_blank">8 Free Books Every Person Should Read</a></span></p>Science Fiction Stories: The Observer (Part II)tag:wemakezines.ning.com,2011-06-22:2288844:BlogPost:2370932011-06-22T14:00:00.000ZJordan A.http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/thecowation
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><em>Today I am sharing part two of The Observer, my serial science fiction story. Two weeks ago, I introduced Taligunge, the alien observer who comes to Earth, and in this second part, she continues on just that journey.</em> <br></br><em>If you haven't read part one, I highly recommend you check it out <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/2011/06/science-fiction-stories-observer-part-i.html">right here</a>. And, as always, feel free to let me know what…</em></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><em>Today I am sharing part two of The Observer, my serial science fiction story. Two weeks ago, I introduced Taligunge, the alien observer who comes to Earth, and in this second part, she continues on just that journey.</em> <br/><em>
If you haven't read part one, I highly recommend you check it out <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/2011/06/science-fiction-stories-observer-part-i.html">right here</a>. And, as always, feel free to let me know what suggestions you have for the next installment! Part two commences now.</em><br/>
<br/>
Bodies upon bodies lined the walls. Taligunge drew close to them – they were encased in a thin film that glistened in the light. Breathing tubes were affixed to their mouths and they respired with shallow inhalations. She shuffled down the corridor, looking into each of the shut-eyed faces as she passed, trying to discern the purpose of this operation. To quell her shock, she imagined that this was just another challenge from her guides, that the humans in these pods were simulations, and nothing more.<br/>
Even when she first started out at the homicide department, they gave her the tough assignments. At first she wondered whether her guides manipulated them to give her test assignments to prove she had a sufficient commitment level. But case after case taught her that humans could be just as vicious to one another as foreign planets could be to them. Every nightmare imaginable happened on this planet, eviscerations and cruel displays of flesh. When she transmitted her messages back home, she would shudder violently as it passed from her – the stories were ingrained deep in her viscera.<br/>
The sound of metal clattering to the floor broke her thoughtful silence.<br/>
She pinpointed its location: further down the corridor and towards the left wall. She flew to it, keeping her swift steps silent.<br/>
Taligunge had a standard issue pistol from the department, but she preferred her own weaponry. She did not possess the requisite level of skill to use the foreign firearm – the heft of the instrument and pressure needed to fire it made her blanch. She pulled out a studded handle and tapped one of the setting buttons on the side for a thin cutter, invisible to the human eye. The material crystallized before her and glimmered like a spider’s web in the relative dark. She approached the location of the sound and scanned the area with a sensor on her wrist.<br/>
Nothing: no activity, human or otherwise, to report. Taligunge scanned the region with her unsure visual system, but even then there was nothing. She stared at the nearest pods.<br/>
The humans inside were markedly drier and paler than the previous ones. Their gaunt appearance accented the woodenness of their features; their typically round features appeared to be shrinking into a boxy impersonation of human life. One man near her was particularly small and wan – his closed eyes bulged against his eyelids and his unclothed body displayed ribs that looked like one long sheet of plastic.<br/>
Taligunge turned to exit the way she came. There was nothing she could do here without backup. Her eyes roved over the unfortunate captures as she passed, unsure of whether she should call the police department now or wait until she could report back to her superiors and wait another day. She maneuvered out to the fire escape exit before taking out her civilian cell phone. She dialed the number for their anonymous tip line and gave in the details. She hoped someone would come before morning.<br/>
***<br/>
The transmission she sent that night contained disturbing images. She found memories of previous homicides, serial killers, framed suicides, coming back to her in one long sprawl as she panned over the faces of the victims. When the transmission concluded, she sat on her hard mattress and stared at the floor – she was shivering so furiously that it jittered back and forth.<br/>
The thin film that encased them perturbed her. She was reminded of the first time she had looked at herself in a human skin. She had held out her hand and the skin formed around it. Her pale violet glow dulled into a muddy brown, her long thin claws retracting into delicate nails, and a pattern of knuckles and veins laced over her where before there had been none. The skin traveled up her arms; she watched in the mirror as it engulfed her leonine shoulders and shortened her long torso. Her body conformed without effort. The fine layer of fur on her extremities thinned and layers of fat developed on her, like fast-growing fruit before it is plucked. All but her head was covered; her bright purple eyes staring out of a too-long face for the body she had appropriated. She put on the mask last, careful to close her eyes so she wouldn't see the change in progress. When she reopened them, she had flat features, thin cheeks, and a long nose that protruded from her face. Her eyes had settled into a deep black color. It was uncomfortable at first and she had been uneasy about the transformation.<br/>
But at that time everything was too exciting for much discomfort to set in. She was joining her warrior race in the truest sense of the word; the messages of protecting the weak that had enraptured her were finally coming to fruition. They would monitor her, but this Earth would be her new world.<br/>
In the Earth year that she had passed here, the glow of her task had worn off just as her skin color had. She observed most often that humans needed protecting from themselves first and foremost. But she did not believe herself totally discouraged.<br/>
The next morning, she woke to her cell phone buzzing on the bedside table and reached an arm over to pick it up.<br/>
“Good morning,” she said mechanically.<br/>
“You’re up early – you don’t even sound tired.”<br/>
It was Eloise, her partner at the police department.<br/>
“I rise early.”<br/>
“Healthy choice. We’ve got a suspected suicide case that the parents have called in as homicide today. They want us to take a look at the body and do some poking around. The ME said he’d have it ready by 10, but I’m pushing for 9 – are you up for it?”<br/>
Taligunge checked the clock timer affixed to her bedside lamp. It was 7:50am. “I’ll be at the office in thirty minutes. Then we can go to the examination room.”<br/>
“Great, maybe we’ll grab breakfast on the way if he’s running on his schedule. See you soon.”<br/>
They hung up and Taligunge pulled on her uniform.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Read more of my <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/story">stories</a> and <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/writing">writing</a>.<br/>
Check out some of my other creative pursuits in the Creative Every Day series.</i></div>Science Fiction Stories: The Observer (Part I)tag:wemakezines.ning.com,2011-06-07:2288844:BlogPost:2293302011-06-07T17:30:00.000ZJordan A.http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/thecowation
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><i>Drumroll, please! Today, I am introducing first installment of my serial science fiction project, The Observer. As a <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/writing">writer</a>, I have gravitated mostly towards science fiction in the past, and wanted to re-visit my love for it through producing content regularly. So, this serial fiction is coming to you in parts, just like your favorite…</i></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"><i>Drumroll, please! Today, I am introducing first installment of my serial science fiction project, The Observer. As a <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/writing">writer</a>, I have gravitated mostly towards science fiction in the past, and wanted to re-visit my love for it through producing content regularly. So, this serial fiction is coming to you in parts, just like your favorite <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/tv">TV shows</a>. Enjoy this first section, and let me know what you think of it (and science fiction as a whole) in the comments! Also, I am accepting suggestions to use for the upcoming parts of the <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/story">story</a>. Leave those in the comments as well!</i></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;"></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Taligunge tapped the side of her head reflexively. She prepared herself to receive a transmission that would never come – one that would tell her she was in the right place. Slinking out from a side alley, she surveyed her destination from across the street.<br/> <br/>
The warehouse was nestled in between a low-rent apartment building and a paper factory, neither of which advertised docility to the lone investigator. The owners had boarded up the windows to add to the forbidding atmosphere, though someone had broken a few all the same; the glass shards had long been swept away by some routine maintenance crew. Boards covered the front door as well and a small sign informed would-be petty thieves that they would be prosecuted for trespassing if they stepped inside the property. Taligunge studied the grey building to find another access point. A slim alleyway snaked around the building to the back where she squinted to see the faint outline of a ladder leading upward. She sped down the alley and mounted it, scaling upward onto the small fire escape, and entering in a broken fire escape door.<br/>
<br/>
Darkness. Taligunge reached for her flashlight and the space burst into illumination; the floor was an empty expanse of sawed-off beams and dusty metal. Pricking her ears up for any suspicious sounds, she made quiet steps towards a door at the far end of the room. She jiggled the handle only to find it locked. From her pocket, she produced a matter dissipation device and began to disintegrate the molecules in the metal frame, muffling the sound with a noise canceling adapter attached to one end. After a few minutes, the door morphed into a gaping hole through which she stepped. Another room shrouded in darkness lay beyond, smaller than the last.<br/>
<br/>
Taligunge shone her flashlight, looking down on a similarly furnished floor space. This room was somehow more tenuous than the last. She detected the faint hum of machinery, live and working machinery, coming from somewhere in the space. She pressed herself against the wall and searched for the source.<br/>
<br/>
So focused was she on the humming sound, she didn’t notice when her foot connected with something softer than metal. Only when she picked up her foot to take another step did she notice the sucking sensation – the floor was pulling her left foot down into it with the force of a vortex. Surprised, Taligunge flashed her light over it and saw something not of this planet: a portal devouring the lower half of her leg. A booby trap set for curious humans on the lookout for the paranormal.<br/>
<br/>
She clutched the metal struts in the wall firmly, turned on her matter dissipation device, and set it down. It vibrated violently as the portal drew it closer and closer in. Then, with a brief popping noise, it began to suck the portal into itself, returning physical solidity to the space and liberating her left leg. Whoever owned this operation had left a mile-wide sign of their questionable activity. Taligunge let go of the struts and rapped on the wall near the portal’s location. Hollow.<br/>
***<br/>
She had begun working in the homicide department right after they had hired her. They gushed over her credentials and told her that she appeared enthusiastic about the work in a way they hadn’t seen in a while. Taligunge had smiled with all of her teeth bared, like a lioness baring her fangs – the excitement of entering her first human profession made her feel triumphant.<br/>
<br/>
When she had first come to this planet, it had not been up to her to mold her own life. She was involved in intergalactic maintenance: the protection of underdeveloped planets so that they could mature to decent level for admission into the Intergalactic Union. The task required an inquisitive nature and a unique level of deference. Taligunge knew she would be an observer from the start, but at that point her training was all through books and simulations, leaving her guides to fashion a life for her. First, they had started her as a private detective.<br/>
<br/>
The work interested her only mildly – those that approached her were most often the very wealthiest of humans ready to spy on their marital partners or their colleagues and incriminate them in petty cases. The more interesting parts came when she was required to patrol: she observed humans in their own habitats, viewed their mannerisms and lifestyle choices.<br/>
<br/>
Needless to say, the patrols varied. One night she would gaze up at the bright stars in a rural African sky and the next she would be transported to a dinner party in east Austria to schmooze with private business owners. They all thrilled her – she did not have a favorite. Human life and culture infused her with passion for further study.<br/>
<br/>
At first, the guides stayed with her, linking with her skin to skin in order to experience her conduct in the situations, to correct for any faults. Then they moved further away. Taligunge began to send transmissions of the information she had received. She began to integrate herself into a single location and work through the human media and other channels to gain widespread information. She began to look for a steady job.<br/>
<br/>
<i>See more of my creative projects in the series <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/ced">Creative Every Day</a>.<br/>
Learn more about writing in my posts <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/2011/06/6-tips-from-writing-workshops-opening.html">6 Tips from Writing Workshops</a> and <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/2011/05/3-ways-i-beat-writers-block-to-pulp.html">3 Ways I Beat Writer's Block to a Pulp</a>.</i></div>Creative Every Day (CED) Roundup: Bears, Knitting, and Growing Ideastag:wemakezines.ning.com,2011-06-02:2288844:BlogPost:2263252011-06-02T19:30:00.000ZJordan A.http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/thecowation
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">My Creative Every Day hopes this week were somewhat diminished as I found that I had a lot of ideas, but nowhere to go with them - thus, next week's goal will be implementing those ideas and seeing how it all turns out. The pictures this week reflect my new sweaterdress project at different stages of its completion, my urge to draw bears, and some design changes to The Cowation logo in order to fit with the Facebook parameters - speaking of which, you…</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">My Creative Every Day hopes this week were somewhat diminished as I found that I had a lot of ideas, but nowhere to go with them - thus, next week's goal will be implementing those ideas and seeing how it all turns out. The pictures this week reflect my new sweaterdress project at different stages of its completion, my urge to draw bears, and some design changes to The Cowation logo in order to fit with the Facebook parameters - speaking of which, you can now <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cowation-Creativity-Blog/212590285431153">Like The Cowation on Facebook</a>, as I have set up a new Page for it!<br/> <br/>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/153/b/6/blog_ideas_by_thecowation-d3hvd74.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Blog Ideas" src="http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/153/b/6/blog_ideas_by_thecowation-d3hvd74.jpg" width="240" border="0" height="320"/></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"> <i><b>Thurs:</b> All the blog ideas I had when I was interlinking archived posts for days on The Cowation.</i></div>
<br/>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/153/3/a/sweaterdress_wip_1_by_thecowation-d3hvcck.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sweaterdress Beginnings" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/153/3/a/sweaterdress_wip_1_by_thecowation-d3hvcck.jpg" width="320" border="0" height="240"/></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"> <i><b>Fri:</b> This is the back piece of my sweaterdress at just an itty bitty rib area of 16 rows. Working my way on up to 19". </i></div>
<br/>
<div style="text-align: center;"><b> "There was little in this world that kept her attention so much as the strange boxes that projected to these humans images of themselves. They were square and often large, spreading from wall to wall in some of the rooms she had seen. They came with control boxes or with sensors that would accept data disks and present whole new worlds to their viewers... Without the boxes, the humans were alone and unconnected, unlike most other animals."</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>"She found it difficult to watch the autopsies in progress. After spending countless hours encoding their information into the system, holding conversations with them, feeling empathy for their successes and failures, to see an individual human lain out on a table made her shudder. She knew that her cover profession as an investigator made it necessary, but it was never her favorite part of it."</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><br/></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Sat:</b> I worked a bit more on the serial fiction story; above are two more excerpts from the upcoming work.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><br/></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i> </i><a href="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/153/5/c/sweaterdress_wip_2_by_thecowation-d3hvc1z.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/153/5/c/sweaterdress_wip_2_by_thecowation-d3hvc1z.jpg" width="320" border="0" height="240"/></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Sun:</b> This is the back piece of my sweaterdress at 11.5" - motoring on towards 19".</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><br/></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/149/4/a/fb_splash_by_thecowation-d3hjl4i.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Facebook Page Splash" src="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/149/4/a/fb_splash_by_thecowation-d3hjl4i.jpg" width="320" border="0" height="232"/></a><a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/153/d/e/the_cowation_button_by_thecowation-d3hvdwq.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Facebook Button" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/153/d/e/the_cowation_button_by_thecowation-d3hvdwq.jpg" width="320" border="0" height="257"/></a><b><i> </i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Mon:</i></b> <i>I did some re-designing for the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cowation-Creativity-Blog/212590285431153">Facebook Page</a> of my button and splash.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><br/></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/153/7/e/clown_bear_by_thecowation-d3hvdka.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Clown Bear Drawing" src="http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/153/7/e/clown_bear_by_thecowation-d3hvdka.jpg" width="238" border="0" height="320"/></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Tues:</b> I originally wanted to draw a person, but it evolved into this clown bear in a box. Also, the lens flare is starting to grate on me - I must do better with lighting.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><br/></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/153/3/c/sweaterdress_wip_3_by_thecowation-d3hvbh8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sweaterdress Middle 2" src="http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/153/3/c/sweaterdress_wip_3_by_thecowation-d3hvbh8.jpg" width="240" border="0" height="320"/></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Weds:</b> This is the back piece of my sweaterdress at 16" - working my way to 19"!</i></div>
<br/>
<i>Check out some more <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/drawing">drawings</a> of bears in my collaborative comic <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/2011/05/breaking-new-work-bearniverse-issue-1.html">The Bearniverse</a>.</i><br/>
<i>Take a look at previous <a href="http://thecowation.blogspot.com/search/label/ced">Creative Every Day posts</a>.</i></div>science and zines?tag:wemakezines.ning.com,2008-09-28:2288844:BlogPost:111782008-09-28T11:00:00.000ZAntony Hallhttp://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/AntonyHall
I am wandering if there are any science fanzines out there? i have just launched my first zine called 'Tabletop experiments' it will be devoted to creative DIY science &amp; art, experimentation and exploration. It will include writing from scientists &amp; artists based around a different theme for each issues.
I am wandering if there are any science fanzines out there? i have just launched my first zine called 'Tabletop experiments' it will be devoted to creative DIY science &amp; art, experimentation and exploration. It will include writing from scientists &amp; artists based around a different theme for each issues.